BEYOND NORTHERN IRAQ: mail2bni@yahoo.co.uk

Monday, February 28, 2005

I'll reach the grand old age of 33 tomorrow -- but instead of spending my birthday pondering the imminent onset of middle age I'll be covering The London Meeting, which is designed to support the Palestinian Authority.

The Guardian publishes an extract from Phil Rees's new book, in which he meets the aging remnants of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge hierarchy.

Him Huy, a former guard at the notorious S-21 prison -- which I visited just over a year ago -- repeats the mantra of accomplices to genocide from Rwanda to Auschwitz..."I was only obeying orders. If I didn't kill, I'd be killed."

Thursday, February 17, 2005

It's urging people not to go to the Himalayan kingdom until the political crisis eases.

"While the safety of travellers isn't directly under threat, the tense environment could deteriorate rapidly and leave visitors stranded," the guide says.

Tell me about it.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the International Federation of Journalists is visiting Nepal and has issued its preliminary findings on conditions for the media since King Gyanendra dismissed the government.

The IFJ says that threats to journalists' safety, censorship, job cuts and a lack of independent news are having a crippling effect on democracy.

"...when an anti-tank mine tore off his right foot, the warriors of jihad in Iraq thought they had neutralized one of their most resourceful, determined foes.

"They were wrong.

"Refusing to let his injury stop him, Captain David Rozelle roared back into action, returning to Iraq as commander of an armored cavalry troop. He became the first amputee in recent military history to resume a dangerous command on the same battlefield."

Back In Action, Captain David Rozelle's new book of limbless derring-do, sounds like it might be just my kind of book.

Except that it's published by bonkers right-wing publishing house Regnery, the company that brought you the best-selling John Kerry election year smear job, Unfit for Command.

Back In Action is billed as "an astonishing story of courage, determination, heroism, and bedrock patriotism."

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

In the BBC's internal newspaper, reporter Peter Greste has given the first detailed eyewitness account of the incident in Mogadishu in which Kate Peyton was murdered.

He writes:

"Because the hotel compound was full, our driver parked on the street outside.

"You take your cue from the locals, and there was nothing to suggest we were in any danger. People seemed calm and relaxed and, because of the government delegation inside, there were bodyguards everywhere."

Recalling the moment the shot was fired, Greste says:

"Instinctively I took cover and when I stood up I saw Kate slumped on the ground.

"She was conscious and lucid and asked what had happened. I held her and realised she had been shot in the back. She was bleeding but not profusely. The driver and I put her in the car and raced to the hospital. It was only six or seven minutes from the shooting to our arrival at the hospital.

"I spoke to Kate before she went into surgery and conveyed my optimism to her, reminding her that doctors in Somalia are among the most experienced in the world at dealing with gunshot wounds.

"Some years ago, in Afghanistan, I was present when a colleague was badly hit by shrapnel. He survived and I thought Kate would, too.

"The Somalis did their utmost. They could not have done more.

"Perhaps someone wanted to make a point about poor security in Somalia or perhaps the aim was to kill a foreigner as a protest against foreign intervention in the country."

Monday, February 14, 2005

At least 4 journalists from the mainstream media have already died on assignment this year.

Let me know when a blogger puts his or her life in mortal danger to get a story and I'll rethink.

UPDATE:BBC Global News boss Richard Sambrook has posted his thoughts on the affair on his internal BBC blog.

It's not available outside the intranet so I republish it in full.

For once, I find myself agreeing with BBC management.

"I'm shocked by Eason Jordan's resignation at the end of last week following his remarks on a panel at Davos (see earlier post). He was being hounded by the US bloggers - unreasonably. He had clarified his comments and apologised for any misunderstanding. However the bloggers scented blood and continued to pile on the pressure, the story broke into the mainstream and Eason felt he should stand down rather than let CNN be damaged by association. So he has resigned because he was accused of holding views which he repeatedly said he didn't hold...a strange world.

"Eason is a good man. In the last year alone he has made 12 trips to Baghdad to support the CNN team and to try to put in place arrangements to improve their safety. He joined CNN in its earliest days and developed their newsgathering through the eighties and nineties, building for himself a reputation as a fierce and uncompromising competitor.

Friday, February 11, 2005

The World Press Photo of the Year has been announced -- this year's winner is Indian photographer Arko Datta from Reuters for his shot of a woman mourning the death of a relative who was killed in the tsunami.

The website features some of the year's most striking images and is well worth a browse.

Somalia: Government – looking at the physical infrastructure of a state that has been looted and smashed, ahead of the new government’s return. (WTV Commission)

Somalia: Telecoms – looking at how the telecoms industry has become the most developed and efficient in Africa in spite of, or rather because of a lack of government red-tape and regulation. (WTV Commission)

Somalia: Sharia Courts – looking at the role of Islamic justice in Somalia, and how it is in danger of becoming the new radical force. (WTV Commission)

Somalia: Warlord – Profiling a warlord and explaining why it is going to be so difficult for the new government to disarm them. (WTV Commission)

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

"It is with deep sadness and regret that I now have to update you with the news that Kate has died in hospital in Mogadishu after being shot earlier today. She died of internal bleeding following surgery.

"Kate was one of our most experienced and respected Foreign Affairs producers who had worked all over Africa and all over the world. She will be greatly missed, both professionally and personally.

"Our thoughts are with her partner, Roger, his daughter, and Kate’s mother, brother and sister. We are in touch with the family and are doing everything we can to support them at this terrible time."

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

If the mainstream media aren't chasing this story, it's because there's no story to be chased. It's a deliberately distorted, politically motivated non-story which serves merely to undermine further the credibility of a number of popular blogs.

Unlike most of those who are working themselves into a frenzy over what Eason Jordan may or may not have said in Davos, some of us were actually there in Iraq. Some of us were injured on assignment. Others didn't make it home.

This travesty of a "controversy" doesn't merit any further discussion -- Jordan has no case to answer.

The official website of the Palestinian National Authority appears to be living in a bygone era.

According to it, Yasser Arafat is still the president of the PA.

Yet it was only Arafat's death that made today's new opportunity for peace in the Middle East possible.

Of course, the ghosts of many earlier peace initiatives loom large -- the Camp David Accord in 1979, the Oslo Accord of 1993.

The militant groups say they are not bound by the ceasefire -- and the first big test of today's lofty declarations will be how the Palestinian Authority reacts to any violation of the truce.

The Sharm El-Sheikh summit was marked by fine words rather than the resolution of contentious issues. Huge gulfs remain between the two sides on questions such as borders, the status of Jerusalem and the right to return of Palestinian refugees.

So it's far too early to call the ceasefire a new beginning for the Middle East.

Even so, after a four year intifada -- in which some 3,350 Palestinians and 970 Israelis have been killed -- any sign of an end to the bloodshed must be welcomed.

There's a good reason why the news networks are getting so overexcited about Ellen MacArthur's return to Falmouth.

It's because her homecoming allows them to play with all their new toys.

Radiocameras,videophones, cameras aboard boats, warships and helicopters -- the internal organs of everyone within a 10 mile radius of Falmouth Harbour must be cooked from all the radio waves bouncing around this morning.

99% of the time Mr Stumpy behaves himself and I barely notice the fact that I'm wearing an artificial leg. Putting on the leg in the morning has become second nature, like putting on a pair of glasses.

Over the last few days, however, I've been reminded just how inconvenient it can be when things go wrong.

I've been giving my leg quite a hammering recently, what with trekking in Nepal and starting a new training programme in preparation for a few 10k runs and Mr Stumpy decided to take his revenge.

Over the course of last week an area the size of a two pound coin swelled up into an angry red lump which made it incredibly painful to walk. I'd flinch every time I put my weight through the prosthesis. On Friday the pain became so bad that I had to leave the leg off and use crutches. Needless to say, I was also forced to pause the training programme.

Thankfully, a combination of resting the leg and a course of antibiotics seems to be doing the trick. Mr Stumpy has returned to his usual calm state and I'm able to walk again.

"There is a possibility that an eyewitness mistook the defendant adjusting his artificial leg for exposing his genitals," Presiding Judge Toshiyuki Tani said as he cleared the defendant of his charges," (Mainichi Daily News)